Act and Crime

The Philosophy of Action and its Implications for Criminal Law

Michael S. Moore

A comprehensive examination of the relationship between the substantive criminal law and the philosophy of action

Written by one of the foremost Anglo-American legal theorists

Uses the theory of action to illuminate three major problems in drafting the interpretation of criminal codes

Act and Crime

The Philosophy of Action and its Implications for Criminal Law

Michael S. Moore

Description

In print for the first time in over ten years, Act and Crime provides a unified account of the theory of action presupposed by both Anglo-American criminal law and the morality that underlies it. The book defends the view that human actions are always volitionally caused by bodily movements and nothing else. The theory is used to illuminate three major problems in drafting the interpretation of criminal codes: 1) what the voluntary act requirement both does and should require; 2) what complex descriptions of actions prohitbited by criminal codes both do and should require (in addition to the doing of a voluntary act); and 3) when two actions are 'the same' for purposes of assessing whether multiple prosecutions and multiple punishments are warranted. The book both
contributes to the development of a coherent theory of action in philosophy, and it provides both legislators and judges (and the lawyers who argue to both) a grounding in three of the most basic elelments of criminal liability.

Act and Crime

The Philosophy of Action and its Implications for Criminal Law

Michael S. Moore

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition1. Introduction: Criminal Law's Three Conduct RequirementsPart I: Basic Acts and the Act Requirement 2. The Doctrinal Unity of the Act Requirement3. The Orthodox View of the Act Requirement and Its Normative Defence4. The Metaphysics of Basic Acts I: The Existence of Actions5. The Metaphysics of Basic Acts II: The Identity of Actions with Bodily Movements6. The Metaphysics of Basic Acts III: Volitions as the Essential Sources of ActionsPart II: Complex Action Descriptions and the Actus Reus Requirement 7. The Doctrinal Basis of the Actus Reus Requirement8. Unity in Complex Action Description and in the Actus Reus Requirement9. The Normative Basis for the
Actus Reus Requirement10. The Metaphysics of Complex Actions I: The Dependence of Complex Actions on Basic Acts11. The Metaphysics of Complex Actions II: The Identity of Complex Actions with Basic ActsPart III: The Identity Conditions of Actions and the Double Jeopardy Requirement 12. The Doctrinal and Normative Basis of the Double Jeopardy Requirement13. Legal, Moral, and Metaphysical Notions of the 'Sameness' of Action-Types14. Legal, Moral, and Metaphysical Notions of the 'Sameness' of Act-Tokens

Act and Crime

The Philosophy of Action and its Implications for Criminal Law

Michael S. Moore

Author Information

Professor Michael Moore holds the Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. Chair at the Univerity of Illinois. He is jointly appointed as Professor of Law in the College of Law and as Professor of Philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He also holds an appointment as a Professor with the Center for Advanced Studies. His major works include Causation and Responsibility (OUP, 2009), Placing Blame (OUP, 1997), and Law and Psychiatry (CUP, 1984).

Act and Crime

The Philosophy of Action and its Implications for Criminal Law

Michael S. Moore

Reviews and Awards

"OUP has kindly decided to publish this book in paperback, making this highly complex topic more accessible, so that many can read Michael Moore's writing in his usual flair and competence."
-Sally Ramage, Editor of The Criminal Lawyer